Now Phelps tackles fame

Swimmer adjusting to rush of media, fan attention after record-setting Games

Michael Phelps is set for a Sports Illustrated cover, a trip in London to promote the 2012 Olympics and perhaps nearly $40 million in endorsements. Above, Phelps greets his family after winning an eighth gold medal.
(Sun photo by Ezra Shaw / August 17, 2008)

Michael Phelps -- 14-
time Olympic gold medalist and die-hard
Ravens fan -- could have used

Jonathan Ogden yesterday morning.
Or at least someone like Ogden capable
of throwing a block and giving him
some personal space.

Phelps strolled into the Prince Jun
Palace in Chaoyang Park for a Visa promotional
appearance less than 24
hours after winning his eighth gold
medal in a single Olympics, and before
he got halfway to the stage, a sea of
photographers and reporters surged
toward him like the Pittsburgh Steelers defense in a 40-man, all-out blitz.

Phelps looked briefly overwhelmed.
So many photographers were pushing
and shoving to get close -- flashes popping
like strobe lights in a European
disco -- they practically climbed over
his mother, Debbie, forcing her to
change seats to avoid being trampled.
Welcome, Mr. Phelps, to your new
world.

"It's going to be weird," Phelps acknowledged,
sitting cross-legged in a
cushy chair while talking to a pair of
reporters in a quiet room hours later.
"But I think once you get used to it, it's
going to be fine. You see crazy things over here. Fans are so energetic over
here, and they love every athlete. So
you kind of see that over here more
often."

Will he be greeted similarly in the
States? The answer will have to wait a
few days. Phelps is making appearances
on behalf of his various sponsors
the rest of the week -- in addition to
posing for a Mark Spitz-ian shot with
his eight gold medals for the cover of
Sports Illustrated -- and then he'll fly
to London on Sunday to serve as the
link between the 2008 and 2012 Games
at the Beijing closing ceremonies.

"I'm going to do the handover for the
next Olympics and hopefully begin to for Beijing," Phelps said.

"Speechless" is the word Phelps keeps using to describe
his feelings over the past two days, although
he has been asked to say plenty. It has been fascinating
to watch him handle a flood of questions that
range from the bizarre to the inane.

What would you like to say to the people of New
Zealand?

"It's a nice country," he said. "Kind of rainy. I'd like
to get back there."

What is your definition of love?

"I don't really know," he said. "The person I love
the most is sitting in the front row -- my mom, for
everything she's done."
What does Michael Phelps think of Michael Phelps?

"That is the one question I have no clue how to
answer."

For the most part, he is polished and corporate,
already embracing his role as Ambassador of Swimming
as well as A-list corporate pitchman. Everyone
wants a little piece of him.

"The last 24 hours, I've received probably four to
five thousand messages on my BlackBerry," Phelps
said. "Every time I read a text message, I can't stop
smiling."

He also got a congratulatory call from President
Bush, who watched Phelps' first two races from inside
the Water Cube last week.

"He was saying everyone in America is proud of
me and supporting, and then he told me to give my
mom a hug and tell her the president sent it," Phelps said.
Even cooler, perhaps, was hearing that Bruce
Springsteen dedicated "Born in the USA" at a concert
in Jacksonville, Fla., to Phelps after he won his
seventh gold medal.

"That's pretty cool," said Phelps, before admitting
that he didn't have any Springsteen on his iPod.
"The amount of support from people following the
Olympics and swimming from back home -- it's a
pretty cool feeling."

Financially, he is more or less secure for the rest of
his life. Already financial analysts are predicting
sponsorship deals in the neighborhood of $40 million
in earnings over the next four years. But his new level
of fame is likely to open different doors as well.

"I really, really want to meet Michael Jordan," said
Phelps, confessing that he used to put his hand on
Gatorade bottles that carried Jordan's handprint in the supermarket, just to see how he measured up.
"What he did in basketball is what I want to do in
swimming. He completely changed the sport. I want
to meet Tiger too. And Weezy [rapper Lil' Wayne].
But I really, really want to meet Jordan."

There will be time for all that, but in the immediate
future there will be sleep. He also plans to catch
up on the Ravens -- someone at NBC handed him
an inch-thick stack of articles Sunday about them --
but he was so exhausted after so many interviews
yesterday, he could barely keep his eyes open.

What with celebrating, did he get much sleep after
winning No. 8?

"Five or six hours," he said. "Not much. I need a lot
more than that."